Just a Couple of Vaulties
by thegus14
Summary: All seems well in the Mojave Wasteland, Raiders are the prime targets for the NCR's aggression, and a Caravan Company makes its way into Mojave Outpost. One of the Caravan Guards is a Vaultie basically fresh out of the Vault. This is his adventure through New Vegas.
1. Intro

Intro

"War. War never changes."

Survival, it ran through his head over and over again, in an endless loop whose length was only exceeded by the length of the road that they were walking. It was called the Long 15, a Prewar Interstate Highway that once ran from the Mexican Border to the Canadian Border. Now, it was the lifeline to an entire section of the known remains of humanity. From Montana down through New Cannan and along to New Vegas, and passed Vegas to the heart of the NCR. Although it is the lifeline of the region, it is also one of the greatest causes of death. Raiders, Legion, Deathclaws, Geckos, Scorpions, alone all formidable, but on the Long 15, it's not entirely uncommon to see all of them in a 10 minute span. Caravan after caravan traveled as long and as far as they could from Shady Sands in the south up north as far as New Cannan, marching past all of those threats all day, everyday, protected by only a few guards.

"Shit! Heads up fellas, Raiders! 2 o clock!"

The Caravaneer jumped from his cart, and pulled a pistol out of his holster as he ran in front of his Brahmin.

"Michael, hit the one on the left, I'll get the one on the right, then whoever finishes first hits the last one."

"Survival." Michael thought to himself as he pulled his rifle scope to his eye, aimed directly at the head of the leftmost Raider. He drew in a deep breath into his lungs, and fired, exhaling rapidly as the bullet tore itself a new home in the Raider's brain. Michael took aim at the other Raider who was still up for grabs, and drew in a breath. Before he could fire, the Raider's brains came exploding out the front of his face, and behind him was a squad of NCR Troops.

"Hey there!" The CO of the squad announced, "Mojave Outpost is just at the top of this pass, you should be all clear from here!"

"Kenny, Michael, are you guys alright?" The Caravaneer asked, both guards turned and nodded.

"I think we're fine Randy, let's just get to the Outpost." Kenny said, as Michael started forward. The sun rose higher in the sky as the Caravan creeped on towards the Mojave Outpost. The Caravan didn't move much faster than Kenny and Michael were walking as they rose up the old highway into the Outpost.

"Please have NCR Caravan Clearances ready for inspecting at the gate." read a sign near the top of the pass. Michael could start to see what looked like two NCR Rangers shaking hands begin to rise over the horizon.

"Look at those two Kenny." Michael chortled.

"Are those guys supposed to be intimidating or something?" Kenny asked. Michael shrugged back at him as the caravan approached the gate.

"Guards, feel free to advance on into the barracks, here are your meal tickets." a trooper handed both Michael and Kenny a special blue coin, and pointed them towards the easternmost building. The Trooper looked at Randy, who in return held out his clearances to the soldier. "Hang on, I'll be right back." The trooper said as he made his way into the western building. After a few minutes, the same trooper emerged from the building, along with 2 others.

"Is there a problem?" Randy asked?

"Your company, owes 2 years of taxes and fees, we cannot allow your caravan to pass through until you pay."

"There has to be some sort of mistake. I just came through the Barstow Outpost less than a week ago, and there was no mention of this." Randy exclaimed.

"There's your problem, you haven't paid the territorial tax, you were able to advance through Barstow because it is truly part of the NCR, this is still technically territory."

"Are you fucking kidding me? In order to make the money, I need to get to Vegas, you have to make an exception, send a trooper along with me, I'll pay the tax, I just need to get through now."

"I don't have clearance to do that, and to be honest, no one here does. The current standing rule is No caps, no pass. Also, unless General Moore shows up here, there isn't anyone from Hoover Dam to Shady Sands other than him that can change the tax rules."

"So what can I do?" Randy asked.

"You can liquidate your caravan and sell your assets to the NCR and be free of any debt, so long as you conscript into the Army for a total of 3 months, or you can try and sell your wares here at the Outpost for the allotted time of 2 months to pay the tax debt, after which point you will be forcefully conscripted for 1 year if you fail to do so, either way, your guards are now free agents."

"What?"

"It's all in your contract, apparently you signed the no money down contract, so your terms of breaking the contract are quite severe."

"I'll try to raise the funds myself, I mean, how hard could it be?"

"Ok, today is June 20th, so you have until August 20th to raise your taxes and the late fees, the total of which is 5000 caps." At that, the trooper turned and placed an orange label on Randy's Brahmin, marking it as delinquent.

The doors swung open as Michael and Kenny entered the barracks. They scanned the room and pulled up to the bar, as the bartender came over. "Caps or meal tickets?" Michael and Kenny placed their blue coins on the counter, and the bartender grabbed them and put them in a pile, and grabbed 2 trays with pre-packaged meals on them. When Kenny and Michael opened the meals, a foul smell emanated from them, but it was all their caravan status could provide.

"Old Gecko, at least it's not entirely rotten." Kenny said.

"Might as well be," Michael replied, trying to take a bite, "It's as tough as my Leather Armor."

At that, an NCR Trooper came into the barracks and sat down next to them. "Were you guys with that caravan that just came in?"

"Yea, what's up?" Michael asked.

"It appears that it has some tax delinquency issues, and according to the NCR's contract with that caravan, you guys are no longer employed by that caravan."

"Really? It seemed like Randy was nervous about things the closer we got to here. So is the great and oh so powerful NCR conscripting us now?" Kenny chided.

"Well, we have a higher payscale for soldiers who have previous training, which caravan guard falls under, but it's truly up to you, since the both of you are upstanding NCR citizens."

"While it's tempting," Michael said derisively, "I can't eat this food, and I haven't eaten in 2 weeks, so I'm going to have to decline."

"Me too." Kenny said.

"Can't say I blame you," the Trooper replied, "So you are free to advance from Mojave Outpost in either direction, but if you head West, you won't be able to come back through without being a part of a caravan, so unless you're ready to head back home, I suggest going toward Vegas. We're doing what we can patrolling the 15, but past Goodsprings there are an unusual amount of Deathclaws, so heading east to the 95 is the fastest and safest way to Vegas right now. I can't guarantee the frequency of patrols along 95, but from our reports there aren't any Deathclaws."

"Thank you for your honesty." Michael nodded at the Trooper. "So Kenny, what do you think? According to the maps on my PipBoy, Vegas is only half a days walk along the 15, and almost a full day by the 95, you want to go see what all the fuss is about?"

"Yea, I've heard story after story about The Strip, both prewar and now, so I think it's something we need to see, who knows, we might be able to get jobs and live here in the Mojave, hopefully their food is better outside of here too."

"Alright, we'll head out tomorrow, I'm gonna go find a bed, I'm tired." Michael said as he headed towards the common room.

"Sounds good, I'm going to find someone to share a bed with." Kenny laughed as he spotted a few candidates.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Michael opened his eyes, sat up, and scanned the barracks, there were a few soldiers still sleeping in a few beds. There was a constant noise of talking coming from the bar. As he sat up, he could see two people in a single bed in the corner, as he approached the bed, he saw Kenny's unmistakable messy blonde hair, and saw that he indeed found someone to share a bed with, an NCR Trooper, nonetheless. Michael walked out into the bar and stretched his arms and back, before eyeing a Sunset Sarsaparilla machine. "How do I get a soda?" Michael asked the bartender, since the prewar vending machines don't exactly run on bottle caps.

"Give me 3 caps, and you open the machine and get it."

Michael gave the bartender 3 caps, then opened up the vending machine. This one still worked, as he felt the cold air pour out of the prewar cooler. He grabbed a Sarsaparilla, and popped the cap off, and took a refreshing drink. The Geiger counter on his PipBoy clicked a bit, signaling his body had absorbed some radiation. Michael inspected the cap he got off of the soda, it had a blue star on the inside of it. He walked up to the bar and asked the bartender about it. She leaned in towards him, which made him a bit nervous, she whispered, "What that is, is a contest that was put on by the Sunset Sarsaparilla company before the war, apparently, if you collected enough of the star caps, you won a prize. No one is sure whether or not the contest is still on, but there are people who hunt those things down, and they're worth a lot to people who are looking for them."

"Are you looking for them?" Michael asked.

"Who me? No. But you should be careful, don't wear them out openly, there are people out there who kill people on suspicion that they have them."

"Oh, well thank you for the warning."

"Yep, no problem."

As Michael finished his soda and dropped the bottle into a trash can, he heard a scream from the barracks, and Kenny came out with a red handprint on his face. "What the fuck happened?" Michael asked.

"I asked her if she wanted breakfast, I told her I have a special sausage."

"Jesus Christ dude, it's amazing any women sleep with you."

"Well, it's not like they can resist my charms anyway." Kenny laughed.

"Anyway, I'm ready to go, so get going." Michael said hurriedly

"I'm good to go, let's head out." Kenny said as he sling his backpack over his shoulders.

When they went outside, they saw Randy set up outside the fence that served as the entrance to both buildings, selling everything he has.

"Hey Randy, good luck with this tax situation man." Michael said.

"Thanks fellas, are you guys going back to California?"

"No," Kenny declared, "We're going to check out New Vegas, see what's happening over there."

"Kenny, come here." Kenny walked closer to Randy "Two things, 1, take care of Michael, you know he's fresh out of the Vault, he's a bit naive, also, I believe I owe you this." Randy reached into his Brahmin pack, and pulled out a Cowboy Repeater, and handed it to Kenny.

"Thanks Randy, take care of yourself, alright?" Kenny said.

"Of course, you guys be careful!"

Michael and Kenny waved to Randy and turned East, toward the Ranger Statues, towards the unknown. They looked across the new valley they were entering, flat, it was a dry lake bed, with a road running North and South, and one running East and West. They looked directly ahead of them down the highway, a mess of old prewar vehicles littered the 15 on both sides. Michael and Kenny looked at each other, nodded and started down the highway.

"So Michael, what was it like in the Vault?" Kenny asked, Michael looked a bit surprised, but nodded to himself as he began to speak.

"To be honest, after being out here for almost a year, I would honestly hate to go back to that lifestyle. I mean, I suppose that things were a bit simpler, but more complex at the same time. Everything you did affected everyone else, out here, it's just you and those you keep close to you."

"Well, I was actually just asking about the food and the girls."

"Holy shit dude," Michael said as he stared at Kenny unbelievably, "But I guess I should have expected that from you." He shot him a smirk, as they were almost at the crossroads. "So, do you feel like fighting some Deathclaws? Or do you want to go the long way?"

"Let's go the long way, I know we've fought Deathclaws before, but it was only a single Deathclaw in each instance, from what I heard, there's a bunch of them. Fuck that."

"Alright, lets go east then."

They walked in silence for a good while, before Kenny broke the silence.

"Listen man, I didn't mean to stomp all over your philosophical breakthrough back there, I just wasn't expecting that deep of a conversation to just pop up out of nowhere."

"It's alright, but to answer your questions, the food was good, that's definitely one thing I miss about the vault. The girls weren't too bad either, a little stuck up, but they were hot."

"If we find a vault, we need to...investigate." Kenny said.

They laughed as they came up to a town. The sign outside it declared it Nipton. There was thick, black smoke coming from the center of town, as they entered, they saw the atrocities that were happening, as the smoke was from burning corpses.

"Oh my God!" Michael yelled, and when they turned towards the town hall, they saw a bunch of people being hung on crosses. "Kenny, this is called crucifixion," Michael whispered, "I learned about it in school in the vault. The Romans did this to their criminals. Jesus was crucified like this."

"How very smart you are." A voice said from behind them, they turned to see a man wearing predominantly red approaching them. "You see the Roman influence in our punishment of Nipton."

"Punishment?" Kenny asked.

The man replied, "Nipton is, was, and always will be a wretched place, we come here every once in awhile to clean out the scum, Caesar wishes Nipton to be extinguished, but no matter how many times we come here to finish it off, it comes back, it's quite annoying, especially since we have to move in the night, what with the Dam Battle and all."

"Caesar? You guys are Legion?" Kenny asked.

"Why yes, but we must be going, we have business to attend to, True to Caesar!"

Michael and Kenny watched as The Legion squad left eastward.

"Those guys are bad news Michael, while some of their policies are noble, like they don't allow drugs and alcohol, as a whole they are bad news for normal people. I thought that the Legion was pushed back to Arizona after the Battle of the Dam, but they're already back terrorizing this far west. I just don't get it."

"They seem like radroaches you have to put a bullet through the brain or they never die." Michael sighed. "What should we do about the crucified?"

"They'll die for sure if we move them, plus the Legion guys might still be watching, so I say we leave them and get the hell out of here."

Michael nodded and they began down the road eastward. They followed the road as it went into hills on the eastern side of the lake bed, they saw a group of prewar cars forming a barricade of sorts.

"Hey Kenny, my PipBoy is picking up 4 life signals, two left, two right."

"Alright, you go right, I'll go left, watch the ground, there may be traps."

The road bent left a little farther up the road from the wreckage, and sure enough, Michael could see Frag Mines placed on the ground, covered with some sand. Carefully, Michael disarmed the 3 he could see, before a shot rang out and flew past him.

"Shit!" Michael armed the mine and threw it up the hill, it exploded with a bang as it landed.

"AH!" He could hear his assailant yell.

Michael pulled his Service Rifle out of his pack and aimed towards where he threw the mine. He slowly climbed up the hill, as he crested the hill, he spotted the guy who he hit with the mine, his left leg was soaked in his own blood, Michael raised his rifle, and lodged a bullet in his brain. As soon as he turned from his kill, he was met with a grenade at his feet, he kicked it, and it exploded about 5 feet from his foot, and he could feel the heat come off of it, and immediately spotted the person who threw it at him, and shot a few rounds into his torso. As he fell over from the shots, Michael took the butt of his rifle and smashed it over the back of his head, knocking him out, if not killing him.

"Kenny! You okay?" Michael yelled.

There was no answer, Michael sprinted down the hill back onto the road. He ran towards the other hills, before he saw two dead Raiders on the ground. He stopped and smiled, looking around for Kenny, his PipBoy picked up a life signal at the top of the hill, Michael went up to the top of the hill, and found Kenny looking through a Sniper Rifle back towards Nipton.

"Where'd you get that?" Michael asked.

"One of them had it on them." Kenny replied.

"You know what, we cover twice the ground when we travel without the caravan. It's only noon." Michael said, looking at his PipBoy.

"Well how about that?" Kenny replied as he slung the Sniper Rifle over his shoulder and strapped it into place. They hopped back down onto the road, and traveled around a few more bends, before coming up on Highway 95. They approached a billboard, when Michael reached out and stopped Kenny.

"Raiders, behind the billboard. Sneak around and get some pot shots with your new toy, I'll sit back from here and shoot them from the side." Michael ordered.

"Alright, sounds good." Kenny ran off towards a nearby hill. "He might not be socially mature, but that guy sure knows strategy." Kenny thought to himself as he set up his rifle.

Breathing slowly, Kenny fired 3 shots which killed 2 Raiders and wounded another, 2 more ran out from the sign, having spotted Kenny, when Michael started tearing into them with his Service Rifle from the side. Before long, the Raiders were dead, and they spotted a big green dinosaur in the horizon.

"We're pretty efficient." Kenny said.

"Yea, until 3 Deathclaws show up." Michael added.

"Hey, you don't say that. Don't even think that." Kenny exclaimed.

Michael laughed as they walked up to the green dinosaur, and saw a Sniper Rifle barrel sticking out of the mouth, pointing in the direction they just came from.

"We were being watched." Michael said, pointing

"Well no shit?" Kenny said to himself, coming to terms that he could have died.

"Let's go say hi." Michael said as he walked through the gates of the hotel, and into the dinosaur.

"Whoa there, who goes there?" The Sniper said whipping the barrel into Kenny's face.

"I'm Kenny, this is Michael, we were just wondering why you didn't just dust us? You know, since you were watching us."

"You fought the raiders, that's all the proof I need that you're good guys."

Michael and Kenny nodded at each other. "You mind if I look at your rifle?" The Sniper asked.

"Naw man, go for it, let me see yours. I just picked mine off of some raiders we killed earlier today."

Michael and Kenny checked out the Sniper's rifle as he did some fiddling on theirs. "Your rifle is sweet man." Kenny said, handing it to him.

"Yours can be just as sweet, my man. By the way, my name's Manny. But yea, your gun can be turned into a sweet thing with just some TLC and some new parts."

"So what exactly are you hunting up here Manny?" Michael asked.

"Raiders. I used to hunt Legion too, but I haven't seen them since the 2nd Dam Battle. What exactly are you two guys doing here?"

"We're just a couple of friends from California here to see the Strip." Kenny said.

"Well,we were Caravan guards from Shady Sands, but our caravan got taken out of business at Mojave Outpost, so we decided to check out Vegas before we head back to California, if we go back at all." Michael explained.

"Ah, the adventurer lifestyle, well, I know all about that, I was in a gang around here until I signed up for the NCR, soon after my service ended I need to settle down, and since then I've been here. It's a simple and modest life, but it's a lot more stable than the Khan or NCR life."

"You know, we saw some Legion folk in Nipton." Michael said.

"What?!" Manny exclaimed. "I thought they were pushed back to at least the Colorado by now."

"That's what I thought too Manny," Kenny said. "They say they only travel at night though, and they did go over the hills east instead of the road, but you should keep extra watch."

"Well thanks for the info guys, I can put red back on the shoot on sight list."

"Alright Manny, we should be going, we want to get to Vegas before sundown." Kenny said, as he offered his hand to Manny to shake.

"You boys have passports?" Manny asked, shaking Kenny's hand and reaching for Michael's.

"Passports?" Michael asked, shaking Manny's hand as well.

"Yea, you either need to have a certain amount of caps on you or have a passport to get into the actual Strip, the amount of caps changes almost daily sometimes it seems, but when I first went in it was 1000 caps for you to enter, you didn't have to pay, you just had to have it, to show that you weren't just squatting or causing trouble."

"Hmm, that's something we didn't think of." Michael said, almost to himself, "Anyway, Thank You Manny, good luck, and if we ever come back here, we'll be sure to stop by." Michael said.

"Alright, sounds good you guys, oh, go to the Gun Runners if you want to get parts to make that Sniper of yours sweet, they sell all sorts of modifications and things for em." Manny said.

"Will do, Thanks Manny." Kenny replied.

They waved goodbye and headed out of the dinosaur, and out of the hotel's parking lot, and turned due north, they stopped and turned around and waved one last time to Manny, who in turn bounced the sunlight off his scope into their eyes. They made their way up North through the 188 Trading Post and past the REPCONN Facility, without much trouble, a few geckos here and there, and then, they saw Camp McCarran.

"It's the old airport of Vegas, right off the strip." Michael said, recalling his history of the area.

"It's an NCR base now, so we could probably stay the night there." Kenny replied.

They made their way to the main gate of Camp McCarran, they immediately walked up to the barricades set up just inside the entrance.

"Is there a common house or empty barracks where we can sleep tonight?" Michael asked a trooper.

"Well, for Couriers and Caravaneers, yes, for Prospectors, no."

Michael was about to say something, but Kenny butted in, "We're caravaners, we have been separated from our caravan, and are just looking for a place to stay."

The trooper nodded and showed them over to a tent which had 3 bunk beds inside. Michael and Kenny each took a bed, and drifted off into sleep.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Alarms rang in the dead of night, shaking the whole airport. Michael and Kenny were practically thrown out of bed, and rose to their feet, and ran outside. NCR Heavy Armored Troops were congregating near the gate of Camp McCarran.

"What the hell is happening?" Kenny yelled

"It looks like every Raider in the Mojave is approaching from the west!" yelled out a nearby trooper.

"Jesus." Michael muttered as he made sure his gun was ready for a fight.

A Vertibird was spotted in the distance, coming from the Southeast.

"The General's coming!" Shouted a few troops as they ran toward the runways, to perform their landing duties.

Within a few minutes, General Moore was on the stage at Camp McCarran, ready to announce contingency plans.

"I am General Moore, and this is a stage 1 emergency, it looks like every Raider and no-good person in the whole wasteland is coming up to our gate, this is an opportune chance to wipe out the Raiders, so I have called in every soldier I could from around the Mojave, everywhere from Mojave Outpost to the Dam itself, to come and provide reinforcements."

At this, cheers were heard coming from the anxious crowd.

"This will surely be the greatest Battle of the NCR since the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, and we can make sure that all this Raider scum is wiped off the face of this earth right now. General Oliver would be proud of every single one of you if we can make this a reality."

A mix of cheers and boos greeted the former General's name.

"Our plan for battle is to just stall, we will not open the gates of the Camp until our reinforcements gain control of the outside, until then, anyone with any sort of long or medium range weapon, head over to the walls, we'll shoot as many of them as we can from up there. The first reinforcements will be arriving shortly, I saw them at the 188 Trading Post as we flew over, so maybe half an hour. Battle Stations people!"

Anyone with any sort of rifle filed towards the stairs and ladders that led to the walls of Camp McCarran, including Kenny and Michael, as they reached the top of the wall, they saw the Raiders, Fiends, Vipers, it didn't matter, they were all there to try and destroy Camp McCarran. At the sight of the NCR's firing squads, the Raiders charged forward at a full sprint, and the militia began firing its weapons. Rocket Launchers and Grenades could clear a chunk of ground real quick, but it would soon be filled up by more Raiders, it looked like a frenzied Ant Hill. Michael had shot 5 Raiders before he had to duck for cover, and Kenny was doing what he could with his dis-repaired Sniper Rifle, picking off the Raiders with precision weapons. Even General Moore got in the fray, shooting a Service Rifle into the wave of Raiders, and soon a wave of jubilation went through the militia, as the NCR Reinforcements from Boulder City had arrived.

They came around the South side of the Camp, and soon formed a wedge between the Camp's Gates, which were now quite battered, and the Raiders. Other reinforcement groups from random patrols soon found their way into the fight as well, and the NCR finally began making headway in the masses of Raiders.

There were only about 100 Raiders left when a loud horn-like noise was heard from the North. The fighting seemed to stop as everyone was in disbelief about what was charging towards the battle. Legion.

There must have been about 2000 Legion troops charging from the North, around the west side of the strip, their standards flying high. They ran and backed the Raiders in their fight against the NCR.

"Legion!" General Moore exclaimed as she thought intently. "We need to break out the Fat Man cannons, hurry!" she yelled to no one in particular. A couple of troops ran into the Terminal building, and soon they came back out pulling carts with boxes on them. The General opened 2 of the boxes, and pulled out a Fat Man Cannon along with a couple of Mini Nukes.

"Squash these bugs!" General Moore exclaimed as they shot a nuke into the sea of enemies. It exploded into a fireball and rose into a mushroom cloud. The Geiger counter in Michael's PipBoy started ticking like crazy.

After a few Nuke shots, the wave of Raiders began to recede, and slowly back up, and soon after, the NCR Power Armored troops had chased the whole wave back west. General Moore stood back up on the stage an hour after the Legion/Raider party retreated.

"The good news is, we're still here, the bad news is, the Legion seems to have returned." Moore shook her head. "Our patrols had only seen them in Arizona, not a one seemed to have been able to get back across the Colorado. Good job everyone on defending this base. It is the most integral part of the NCR's foothold here in New Vegas. Now, I know you all think that we all withhold information from you guys, but this time, I have no information with which to withhold. So we're going to send out a couple of patrols to make sure that the Raiding party is going to stay retreated, and when we get that all clear, we will let you leave if you wish. Thank You for your Cooperation and Service."

A Major walked up onto the stage after that, "Everyone here right now will receive a free meal, head over to any Mess Hall if you're hungry."

Kenny and Michael walked into the nearest mess hall, and were treated to some salted Brahmin and Sarsaparilla for free, before the loud speakers blared.

"This is General Moore. We have received an all clear notice from our scouting parties. Be sure to exercise extreme caution if you venture out, the Legion is out there. General Moore, signing off."

At that, the Camp seemed to buzz even more than before General Moore spoke, people talking among themselves, creating stories and passing them along faster than the Monorail to the Strip could run.

"The Legion is back, I just thought that we had found some sort of straggling group back in Nipton." Kenny said " I think that things are going to get interesting around here."

"I agree." Michael replied. "I think I still want to go to the Strip though, if you still want to, I'm going to be leaving here soon."

"Definitely, I'm not going to let some Arizona whack-jobs stop me from seeing the Strip!" Kenny exclaimed as he ran back to the tent to collect his gear.

Michael walked over towards the gate of Camp McCarran, where there was a patrol, who motioned for him to come over. "You planning on leaving the camp?" a guard asked.

"Yes, I'm going to the strip." Michael replied, "With my friend over there, pointing at Kenny, who was now walking up toward the gate."

"I'm currently required to advise against leaving the Camp, due to Legion sightings in the area, I can't force you to stay, and in fact I really don't think it's all that dangerous out there, but my orders are to advise against leaving."

"Well thank you for your advisement, but we can handle ourselves out there."

"For your sake, I hope you're right." the guard said as he opened the gate for Kenny and Michael. As the gate opened, Michael and Kenny could see the carnage of the battle, hundreds of bodies were being disposed of by NCR Troopers, and just tossed into mass graves for burying.

"Man." was all that Kenny could muster.

"There was this quote that would play on a lot of the 'Restoring Civilization' videos we played in the Vault, 'War, war never changes.' I've never understood what exactly that meant until now." Michael said as they made their way east around the Northern wall of Camp McCarran. They came up on a broken down wagon, with a Brahmin skeleton at the front. "It's a caravan." Michael said as he searched through the boxes. "Nothing. Didn't the NCR say that they protected Caravans up here?" Michael asked

"Yea, they try, they've never been able to actually control New Vegas, there was this guy, Mr. House, and these families that run the casinos, they're the ones who own the actual city, the NCR is just here."

"So the NCR is having trouble keeping their foothold here in the Mojave, any group could come in and take over?" Michael asked, and Kenny shrugged and nodded "I guess so." he replied.

"All it takes is one wrong step by the NCR, and the Legion could potentially rise to prominence. It just depends on the Legion's true strength. If this group of Legion is all that they have, then I think the NCR will be able to defeat them, simply because the reinforcements from Mojave Outpost and down in California didn't even show up to the skirmish." Michael said as a matter-of-fact.

"How do you know so much about strategy and war?" Kenny asked.

"I was being groomed to be the Overseer in my Vault, the current Overseer took me out of school a few years ago, and he started training me militarily, both in weapons and strategy, both skills are incredibly useful out here in this world."

"You could've been the head honcho of the entire Vault, yet you came out here, looking for something? I don't get you man." Kenny said, a little perplexed.

"Sometimes, you can have everything you could ever want, but still feel empty inside, and that's what I was feeling, I had just about everything I could've ever wanted in there, but I didn't feel it."

"You know, if it was me, all I'd need is some booze and pussy and I'd be perfectly ok in a Vault." Kenny laughed. Michael laughed with him, as they came up on some buildings and a gate with a sign overhead that said "Freeside."

"Any idea what Freeside is Kenny?" Michael asked.

"The gate to New Vegas." Kenny opened the gate, they both walked in, and immediately had a gun pointed in their direction.

"Give me your caps!" the man shouted, pulling the hammer on his pistol back to the cocked position.

"Why?" Michael asked. "We have no incentive to give you them, because if we do, you might still shoot us anyway. If you really want our pitiful amount of caps, then you have to promise our safety."

"What? This is a mugging, not a UN negotiation!" the man said, walking up to Michael and pushing the gun into his chest. Kenny took the opportunity to pull out his Trail Carbine from his pack and point it at the head of the mugger. He turned to fire at Kenny, but Michael grabbed the barrel of the gun and pointed it at the ground as the gun fired. The round went down and sent some shrapnel outward. Kenny swung the barrel of the Carbine into the back of the mugger's head, knocking him down. Michael picked up the man's pistol, and cocked the hammer, and pointed it at his head.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't just end you right now!" Michael said. The man, still in a daze, lifted his hand and pointed towards an alley, where Michael could see a Woman and two children poking their heads around the corner. "Jesus man," Michael said as he helped the man back up. "All you had to do was ask, we all need to help each other out out here man, here's some caps and food." Michael gave the man 50 caps and some of his NCR Rations.

"Bless you sir. Thank you for sparing my life, I can safely say that others would not have done the same."

"Just promise me that you won't go around trying to mug people, your family needs you more than a little bit of caps." Michael scolded.

"I can see that now, thank you once again." Michael handed the man his gun back, shook his hand, and continued down the street of Freeside.

"Well," Kenny said, "That was fun."

"This place is terrible, people who are starving and can't feed their own families, risking their lives to try and get one lousy meal. What is this place?" Michael replied.

"This," Kenny said, waving his arms in a grand motion, "Is Freeside, gate to the strip, home of the Kings gang and free of NCR rule, and it shows."

"Ugh, let's just try and get into the strip." Michael chided as they continued down the dilapidated road. The sun was high in the sky, and was beating down on the concrete jungle in which they found themselves. They neared a gate, but it looked more like a military outpost, there were giant robots standing guard. One of them raced forward to them.

"Welcome to the Strip. Please present Passport or be subjected to a Credit Check."

"Credit Check." Kenny replied.

The machine opened up a slot into which Kenny and Michael poured their caps into.

"Counting, counting, 865 caps. I'm sorry, but this is not enough credit to enter the strip."

"What's the minimum amount to enter?" Michael asked.

"2000 caps." The Robot replied as it rolled back to its post.

"Well shit," Kenny said. "I guess we'll need to save up or make our way in some other way."

Michael nodded in agreement, and he scanned his PipBoy for any nearby pre-war businesses that might still be functioning.

"Hey Kenny," Michael said. "It looks like there's a Caravan company just outside of Freeside. The Crimson Caravan."

"We were just Caravan guards, I don't think that I want to get back into that business just yet."

"It's not like we'll have to go up the whole 15 to Canada. We'll just see if they have any local work, who knows, they might be able to give us jobs on the Strip that require passports."

Kenny stood and thought for a minute before nodding and gesturing Michael to lead the way.

They walked back through the slums of Freeside without incident, and were back out in the Wasteland. They wandered around following the tracking info on Michael's PipBoy, before coming up on a big rectangular wall with a big door on the side of it. "This must be it," Michael whispered to Kenny before opening the door. On the inside of the Fort-like structure were 3 buildings, some Vending booths, and a garden/Brahmin pen. Michael asked where the boss was, and they were pointed toward a building. When Kenny opened the door to the office, a cool breeze blew out, and it cooled and dried the sweat on his forehead.

"Ah, that's nice." Kenny said as he stepped into the Office.

"You like the air conditioning huh?" A lady behind a desk said. "It takes a lot to keep her going, but it's worth it. How can I help you fellas?"

Michael approached the desk and offered his hand for a shake, and lady obliged.

"Well," she said, "You certainly are a polite one."

"We've come looking for work around town." Michael said.

"I'm afraid I don't have any full time positions open at the moment, sorry." she said as she arranged some papers on her desk.

"We don't exactly want full-time positions." Kenny added, "Our caravan just got nixed by the NCR, and we want to see the strip, but we don't have the credit."

"I'm Alice by the way, Alice McLafferty." the lady said before turning her attention towards the terminal on her desk.

Michael and Kenny introduced themselves and told her of their experience as caravan guards. She then told them to wait while she continued looking through the terminal, tapping at the keys.

"I don't have any official work, but, there has been something that I need done."

"What is it?" Kenny asked.

"Well, there seems to be an influx of Newer caps, most likely counterfeited. I just had this problem with the Sunset Sarsaparilla factory on the west side of town, but I sent someone over there and they brought back the cap presses' guts, so it's most likely not that again. No, this must be someone or something different. I wish I had more info for you, but that's about all the work I'd have for you guys right now."

Michael and Kenny looked at each other, Michael adjusted the PipBoy on his wrist, "I think we could look into it for you."

"It would be nice if we could have some sort of guaranteed payment for even attempting to look." Kenny said

"Of course, how about I give the two of you 500 caps total for looking into it, and I'll see what I can do to get you onto the Strip if you figure out what's going on?" McLafferty replied.

"Sounds great." Michael said, accepting the bag of caps McLafferty handed to him. They walked back outside, and out of the Caravan complex. "Where do you think we should go?" Michael asked.

Kenny had pulled out his Sniper and was looking through the scope to the east. "We should buy some ammo, we're starting to get low."

"Alright, let's look for that Gun Runners place."

They walked around outside of Freeside for awhile, and the sun started to set, and the Freeside lights turned on, but there was another glow coming from the East, Michael pointed towards it."Let's go this way." Michael motioned. As they walked towards the glow, they saw a windowed building with a robot in it. The glow was coming from a sign that said Gu Run ers.

"Looks like they need more lightbulbs." Kenny quipped, Michael couldn't help but chuckle as they approached the building with the robot.

"Welcome sir or madam, would you like to purchase something?" The robot asked.

"Yes." Kenny said, as he said that, a terminal on the outside wall opened its keyboard for entry.

"Please let me know if you want anything from our inventory." the robot said.

Kenny looked through the list, and saw the prices they charged for add-ons, replacement parts, and full guns.

"This stuff is expensive." Kenny whined to the robot.

"All of our weapons and parts are made here on site in our factory, everything is of the highest quality."

"Do you sell much to people?" Michael asked.

"Most of our money comes from our weapon contracts with the NCR and other groups." the robot replied.

"What groups?" Michael asked.

"UNAUTHORIZED!" The robot replied.

"Whoa there buddy, we don't want any trouble." Kenny said, his hand resting on the stock of his shotgun slung over his back.

"Please continue looking through our integrated inventory." the robot said, like nothing had happened.

Kenny started just looking at ammo, which was actually cheaper than most, while Michael pulled a cable out from the PipBoy's attachment socket, and hooked it into the terminal. Michael pressed a few buttons and the PipBoy began downloading something from the terminal. Kenny then bought ammo for all of their guns and thanked the robot. Michael walked away towards the North, and motioned Kenny to follow him.

"I got their sales records, apparently, they received payment from a man listed from New Rome, Arizona, and the transaction was marked for questionable currency." Michael explained.

"So then we know it's Legion? I mean, I've never heard about New Rome before, most of the time they just say that the Legion is from Phoenix, but anything from Arizona and Rome sounds like Legion to me." Kenny replied.

"Exactly, so my thoughts are that we need to head to the North, since that's where they came from and left to, and see if we can't find some more solid proof. Since it's dark now, we should go up there and see if we can find their camps while most of them are asleep and we can sneak around."

"Alright, but we just get in, find some sort of proof, and get the fuck out, I don't want to get caught and become a slave." Kenny said.

"They enslave people too?" Michael asked

"Yea, anyone that happens to be traveling alone when one of their raiding parties shows up and doesn't die or kill enough of them gets sold into slavery." Kenny said.

Michael gulped a little and looked North, and started in that direction. They remained silent until they came up on an old farm house outside of Northern Freeside's walls. They heard noise coming from the Western side of the house, and Michael motioned for Kenny to go around one side of the house, and Michael went around the other. The noises stopped, and Michael and Kenny pulled out some weapons, Michael his Service Rifle, and Kenny pulled out his Shotgun. Michael jumped out from the side of the house before spying what was making the noise. There were 2 raiders, naked, strung out, mid-coitus, but passed out, up against the wall of the house. Kenny couldn't help but start laughing.

"Is this normal?" Michael asked.

"For Raiders? Oh yea, all they do is do drugs, fuck, and kill, so they're living the high life right now my friend."

"Ugh, should we, uh, kill them?" Michael asked.

"No, they'll be passed out for awhile, let's just get out of here before..."

Clang! A shot rang out and hit the house between Kenny and Michael's heads.

"Shit!" Kenny yelled as he sprang back around the side of the house and pulled out his Sniper. Michael followed him and ducked behind him.

"You see anything?" Michael asked.

"No, it's too dark, doesn't your PipBoy have a motion tracker or something?"

"Yea, but it just shows a clump in that general direction."

Kenny took a breath in, and pulled the trigger, light flashed before Michael's eyes from the muzzle of the gun and the shot flew through the skull of a Raider whose gun had reflected some moonlight.

"Nice one." Michael said, "My PipBoy shows that they've split up, there's 8 of them now."

Kenny cracked off another shot, and another Raider fell. Michael aimed his Service Rifle into the darkness, and with the aid of his PipBoy, fired some shots, he heard the Raider he had just shot yell out in pain. They then heard footsteps get faster and faster, and soon their vision had adjusted to the light, and saw the 6 unshot Raiders rushing at them. Michael provided some covering fire as Kenny switched to his shotgun and blasted a shot into the front Raider. Michael noticed a life signature go around behind the house, and when he turned to face him, he saw a lead pipe coming down at him, he dove and took the pipe to the ribs. Landing on his back, he pulled his gun to his side and fired wildly with one arm, peppering the Raider with bullets as he fell to the ground. Kenny turned to see that Michael wasn't in immediate danger of death, and turned back around and smashed the butt of his shotgun into the face of one of the remaining Raiders, and blasted the head of the last one.

"Michael, talk to me!" Kenny yelled.

Michael raised his hand and gave a thumbs up sign. "I'm fine." He managed to make out before coughing up some blood.

"You just wanna call it a night?" Kenny asked.

"No, just give me some Med-X and a StimPak." Michael replied.

Kenny grabbed the medicine and injected it into Michael's chest. "There you go buddy, give it a few minutes." Michael laid there until the dull ache went away, and stood back up.

"Alright, I'm ready." Michael said.

"You sure you don't want to come back tomorrow?" Kenny asked.

"No, aside from the shot to my ribs, that was really fun, I've never been ambushed like that before, it really allowed me to use the strategies I've thought up over the years."

"You mean cower behind me and get hit in the ribs by a crazed maniac's pipe?"

"Well, I guess most of it was thrown out when the bullets started actually flying, but I'm fine."

They had a laugh about it as they continued North, until they spotted a glow coming from inside a Canyon.

"Kenny, you see that faint glow in there?" Michael asked.

"Yea, it looks like a Campfire." Kenny replied.

"Yes, alright, what we need to do is climb up the side of the Canyon on that ridge there and use your Sniper and my Binoculars to scout out the Camp."

Kenny nodded and they made their way up the mountains that surrounded the Canyon, and sure enough, they spotted a few campfires, and in the fire light, were the Crimson Standards of Caesar's Legion.

"Now that I'm seeing them here, this seems crazy, this is much bigger than us." Kenny said.

"Not while you have that rifle, you could easily take out 5 of them before they would be able to scramble." Michael said incredibly calculatory. "We just need to find the proof for the Crimson Caravan, and then we can get the hell out of here."

Kenny began looking through the scope of his Sniper, and Michael accompanied him via his Binoculars, while also checking his PipBoy's life signal detector for anything trying to sneak up on them.

"There!" Kenny said excitedly, look at the crate by the slave cage.

"Shhh! G. Runners." Michael affirmed. "That must stand for Gun Runners, I think that's the proof we need."

Kenny began to pack his Guns and ammo away before he heard Michael take a stutter breath. "What is it?" He asked.

"Rachel." Michael whispered under his breath.

"What?" Kenny asked

"We need to save those slaves." Michael said.

"Alright, we'll go get some NCR troops and come back."

"No, I mean now, right now." Michael affirmed.

"Are you crazy? Look down there, there's at least 20 Legionnaires down there, we're two people. You don't even know those people, there's no reason for you to risk your life saving them. I thought you were good at this strategy stuff." Kenny said stoutly.

"I do know one of them..." Michael pleaded.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"What?" Kenny exclaimed "Are you sure?"

"Yes, there's no way I could be mistaken." Michael said. "That girl, the brunette there in the corner, she lived in the Vault with me, we grew up together."

"No shit." Kenny said, looking away. "Well, I mean, I guess we could at least try, but your ribs..."

"Are fine." Michael said sternly as he began down the mountain. "I'm going in, you can distract them by picking them off, hit the ones on the side farthest away from the cage, then I can sneak around to the cage when the skeleton crew starts looking for you and tending to their wounded. I can get over to the slave cage and set them free."

Kenny stared absentmindedly at Michael and nodded. Michael began descending the mountain, before he stopped and looked back at Kenny. "I'll turn my PipBoy's screen on when I'm ready for you to start picking them off." Kenny nodded again and followed Michael on the scope of his Rifle. Michael slinked over to the tents, counting the amount of troops that are guarding the camp. Michael turned on his PipBoy light and turned it towards the mountain, and within seconds, Michael heard a crack, and the Legionnaire farthest away from Michael slunk to the ground. "Great shot." Michael thought to himself as he slunk his way over towards the slave cage. The Legionnaires were trying to be quiet as to not wake their superiors, before Kenny cracked a few more shots off, killing 2 more Legionnaires, and wounding another. The able-bodied Legionnaires were tending to the wounded and dead,and Michael was at the slave cage's gate. The slaves got up quietly and walked over to the door. The Brunette girl in the corner had a perplexed look on her face as she eyed Michael. Michael was working to pick the lock on the Slave cage as Kenny fired a few more shots into the group of Legionnaires grouped up at the other end of the Canyon. The girl got up and walked over to the gate.

"M-Michael?" she asked.

"Hey Rachel, fancy seeing you here." he replied.

"What are you doing here?"

"Saving you. Now be quiet, don't draw attention, I can disable your collars with my PipBoy, it might shock you a little, but it shouldn't be too bad. My friend is the Sniper up on the mountain. When I open the gate, I'm gonna overload the collar's locks, and then we get the fuck out of here, I'll be in the rear providing cover fire in case they catch on." The slaves nodded, and Michael opened the gate, before pressing some buttons on his PipBoy, and the collar's locks opened up, shocking the slaves a little bit. One of them yelped, and the collars made a clanking noise as they hit the ground. Hearing the noise, the Legionnaires turned and started firing, and Michael sprung into action. "Get out of here! Go! Go!" Michael started firing in towards them as he ran out of the canyon, and hit a few of the Legionnaires, but he got shot in the arm and the leg. Once the slaves started running, Kenny fired his whole clip as fast as he could, then ran back down the mountain towards the entrance to guide the slaves. They ran past Kenny, but something was wrong, Michael wasn't at the end of the line. Kenny frantically looked around, before seeing Michael limping out of the Canyon.

"I need some help!" Kenny yelled back at the slaves, and Rachel ran towards Michael. Kenny and Rachel put Michael's arms on their shoulders and carried him out, they kept running until they got back to Freeside's walls. The slaves thanked Kenny for awhile, before he told them that it was no trouble and to be more careful to not get captured. Rachel sat next to Michael, who was sleeping.

"So, of all the people in the world to come and rescue me, why you guys?" Rachel asked Kenny.

"Well, we're in the middle of a job for the Crimson Caravan company, we're looking into some counterfeit caps that have been circulating, and we've traced them to the Legion. We were scouting for some proof that it was them when," Michael started coughing and groaning in pain.

"Michael!" Rachel squealed, "You're okay!"

"Yea, aside from the searing pain of the bullets in my body, I'm great, did any of the slaves get hurt?" Michael asked.

"No man," Kenny said with a beaming smile. "They all got away just fine, but this one seems to know you."

"Yea, like I was saying, we grew up together in the Vault. Oh yea, Rachel, this is Kenny, he's become my best friend since I left the Vault."

"Why did you leave the Vault?" Rachel asked. "You were on track to become the Overseer, you could've had the most power that a person in this day and age could have had." Rachel said, almost bewildered.

"Well, I didn't feel quite right in there," Michael explained while stoppping to cough. "I felt that my life must've been out here, because it certainly wasn't in the Vault." Michael replied.

"We should probably get you fixed up bud." Kenny interrupted, seeing his wounds starting to bleed again.

"I know of a place where we can go," Rachel spoke. "I was working for a group called the Followers of the Apocalypse when I got captured by the Legion. They have doctors, and there's a sizable fort in Freeside."

"Alright, let's get going." Kenny said as he picked Michael up in a fireman's carry. "Lead the way Rachel."

Kenny followed Rachel with Michael on his back into Freeside, it was different at night, but it felt a little safer, there were King's Gang members at the gates and the street lights were on. Rachel walked up to an old building with a sign that said Old Mormon Fort on the outside. Rachel knocked on the door and said "Freedom" seemingly to no one in particular. The door slowly opened and a lady with a Doctor's Coat and a Spiked Mohawk looked at Michael.

"Rachel, you're alive! What happened?" she asked

"This is my friend from a long time ago, he and his friend rescued a bunch of people from the Legion camp up North, he got shot in the commotion, we've stopped the bleeding, but he seems to be coming in and out of consciousness."

The lady pointed over towards a tent and started checking Michael's wounds.

"Legion, this far West? I heard rumors that there had been an attack on Camp McCarran, but it seemed a little too far fetched to believe."

"Well, it's true, Michael and I were at Camp McCarran when it happened." Kenny said, as he set Michael down on a cot in a tent.

"Well, this man is a hero then, don't worry, I'll take care of him. Rachel, you and your friend can bunk in the next tent over, we kinda assigned your bunk to someone else, nothing personal, but we thought you were, uh, dead."

"It's okay, I understand Julie, just make sure Michael's alright."

Kenny and Rachel walked into the next tent over, and each sat down on a bed. "So, Rachel, is it?" She nodded at Kenny "How exactly did you get caught up in that whole slave scene?"

"Well," she started, "I was sent on a peace-keeping mission to the Great Khan encampment off in the western mountains, and when I was returning, my traveling group and I were ambushed by the Legion, they killed my guards and took me Prisoner, I was being moved from different camps farther up North down into the camp ya'll just rescued me from."

"Jeez." Kenny said. "They really are ruthless bastards aren't they?"

"That's an understatement, their officer was talking about a Nuclear Bomb they had in 'Rome' that was on its way." She recalled.

"Well, we'll need to go talk to the NCR about that tomorrow then. Until then though, I'm beat, so I'm going to bed." Kenny said. "Good night."

"Thank You." she said, but Kenny was already snoring.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Kenny awoke to an empty tent stretching and looking for Rachel or Michael. The sun was still in the east, so Kenny knew it was morning. He walked out of the bunk tent and into Michael's medical tent. Rachel was there with Julie looking over his vitals.

"Oh, hey there, Kenny? Wasn't it?" Rachel asked.

Kenny nodded. "How is he?"

"Much better." Julie replied. "He definitely needs rest, but the shots didn't really damage anything from what I saw, so whenever he wakes up he should be ready to walk around."

"Good. Thanks again."

"No, thank you, Rachel is a godsend, things were looking a bit rough around here without her around."

Rachel blushed a bit. "Kenny, you should go get some breakfast, we'll head out for Camp McCarran after we eat."

"Boy, you Vaulties sure know how to lead people." Kenny derided as he left the medical tent.

Kenny made his way to the tent with the food in it, and grabbed a plate and sat down to eat. Rachel soon made her way into the tent and sat across from him.

"It was part of growing up in the Vault." Rachel said after awhile.

"What?" Kenny said with a mouthful of food.

"Wow, it's true what they say," Rachel quipped. "Men never grow up."

"Oh, you mean the whole leader thing." Kenny realized, "Michael's a strategic mastermind. If that was me trying to go down there are save you guys, you'd be eating me for lunch back at the camp right now."

Rachel laughed a bit before her face turned serious. "I'm a little mad that Michael left the vault, he was on track to become Overseer and he would have been able to lead the people of our Vault. Did he tell you anything else about why he left?"

Kenny replied, "No, what he told you is what he told me." They were then silent and finished their breakfast. "So, why did you leave?"

Rachel blushed a little before replying, "Well, when Michael was a sure thing to become Overseer, I still wanted to help people, and one night my PipBoy picked up an outside radio signal, and told stories of the Followers and how they help everyone they can and how they were making a difference in New Vegas. I decided I could help more people by leaving and joining the followers than I could in the Vault, so I left."

Kenny smirked. "All because you were jealous of Michael?" Kenny laughed. "Vaulties." Rachel playfully punched him.

"So, how did you guys come to Vegas? How did you meet Michael?" She asked.

"Well, I was working for a Caravan company in California, and one day we were walking by the entrance to your Vault, and Michael was just sulking about on the outside, on the brink of tears, he wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing, but him just standing there was surely going to get him killed, so we offered him a job guarding the Caravan, and that's what we've been doing for the past year. A couple days ago our Caravan ran into some tax trouble at the Mojave Outpost and we were released from our contracts, and we decided to come check out the strip. We were also staying in Camp McCarran the night the Legion attacked, that's about it."

Rachel had begun to space out before looking at her PipBoy, "We need to get going, we need to let the NCR know where the Legion is." Kenny went back to the bunk tent and grabbed his stuff, and when he came out, Rachel had borrowed a gun from one of the Follower's guards. "You ever shot anything?" Kenny asked.

"Not people, just monsters. I hope to keep it that way." Rachel replied.

"Yea, me too." Kenny said as they left the fort. They walked in thoughtful silence to Camp McCarran, and requested an audience with the highest ranking Officer present. The Trooper that greeted them started laughing.

"You want me to interrupt the General, for you two?"

Rachel held up her PipBoy, "I have location information on the Legion that I will only trust to General Moore's eyes."

The Trooper's eyes went wide as turned and ran into the terminal to fetch the General. Soon she came out with a hurried march.

"You have information on the Legion?" She asked Rachel.

Rachel told Moore how she was captured, how they were talking about a nuclear bomb coming from "Rome" and showed her the locations of the Camps on her PipBoy.

"This information is priceless, there is no way I can thank you, you have eternal friends here in the NCR."

"Whatever we can do to stop the Legion." Rachel replied.

"Nonsense, we owe you. Oh, here, I can give you this." Moore handed Rachel a pass for the Monorail. "This will let you onto the strip without having to pass through their ridiculous credit check. And if there's anything that we can ever do for you or your friends, just ask."

Rachel started to salute, but General Moore hugged both Rachel and Kenny before heading back into the terminal.

"Should we hit the strip to get back into Freeside?" Rachel asked, flashing the Monorail pass.

"No, I want to make sure Michael's there when I first see it." Kenny said.

Rachel nodded, and they began to walk back to the Fort. At the gate to Freeside, Kenny remembered the Crimson Caravan. "Hey," he called out, "I need to go tell the Crimson Caravan what we found about the counterfeit caps, I'll be back at the fort later."

"Alright, hey, when you get back, we should grab something to eat." Rachel said as she opened and walked through the gate to Freeside.

Kenny smiled from ear to ear as he made his way to the Crimson Caravan's complex east of Freeside. He was inside the walls and heading for the office when he saw Michael coming out.

"Why aren't you back at the Fort?" Kenny asked.

"Oh hey, I'm feeling 100% now, that Julie is an amazing doctor. Oh, I told McLafferty about what we found, and she gave us 2000 caps." Michael threw the bag of caps in the air and caught it.

"Awesome, then let's get back to the Fort. I've got a date, and then we can hit the Strip." Kenny said.

"Really? With who?" Michael asked.

"Rachel." Kenny said.


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

When they got back to the Fort, Michael grabbed the Monorail pass and said he was going to go check out the Strip. Kenny obliged, and went into the food tent, looking for Rachel. She was sitting at a table, and Kenny joined her. Michael saw the two of them sitting together, and ran out of the Fort, and down the street in Freeside, toward the gate to the Strip.

"Wait, citizen." The robot said as it rolled up to Michael. Michael held up the NCR's monorail pass. "You may enter, please enjoy your stay on the strip." As Michael walked through the gates of the Strip, his eyes were almost overwhelmed by the amount of colors and lights that were being emitted by the different casinos, He walked down past the Gomorrah and the Lucky 38, and was amazed at the Ultra Luxe and the Tops. He eventually made his way into the Tops, and immediately found a bar.

Back at the Fort, Kenny and Rachel were having dinner, and were having some polite conversation.

"So Kenny, when did you end up joining the Caravan business?"

"Well," he said, finishing a bite of the grilled gecko, "I was 21, and was done serving my time with the NCR, and I needed a pay check, so I just wandered around the streets of Shady Sands, looking for whatever I could. I was in the middle of the road when a Caravan just about ran me over, and when they asked if I was okay, I said 'No, because I don't have a job.' They saw my guns and that I was former NCR and offered me a job, it's been a long 2 years it seems."

"Wow, so it was seamless for you to just jump right into Caravaning work huh?"

"Well, it's basically the same idea, you walk around, shoot stuff that tries to kill you, get paid. It's just that in a Caravan, I didn't have to dress up and say 'sir' every 5 minutes. Well damn, I already know your story, so how about you and Michael, were you guys ever..." Kenny raised an intrigued eyebrow at Rachel.

"Well, no, not really, I think he always saw me as sort of an underling, you know, since he was handpicked by the Overseer to lead, it always seemed like he was too good to talk to me, I mean, he's really a nice guy, but he always seemed out of reach for me."

"Wow," Kenny laughed, "I think that's the first time I've ever heard a girl say she wasn't good enough for a guy."

"Well, like right now, when I said that we should get dinner, I thought Michael would be here with us, and the three of us would all be eating together. Where did he go anyway?"

"Oh, uh, he went to the Crimson Caravan before me to tell them about the counterfeit caps, and then he wanted to go see the Strip, so I told him..." Kenny paused, realizing that this wasn't exactly a date.

"You told him what?" Rachel asked.

"I told him that we'd check it out later." Kenny said, only telling half of the truth.

"He's not hungry? He needs to eat and gain his strength back. We should go find him." Rachel said, putting some food in a bag.

"Yea, I'm right behind you." Kenny said.

They got up and left the tent, and looked around the entire fort for Michael, when Julie said, "You guys looking for Michael?"

"Yes," Rachel said, "Have you seen him?"

"He went to the Strip, asked me if the medicine I gave him would react badly with Alcohol, which it won't."

Rachel looked at Kenny, "You gave him the Monorail card?"

"He said he was going to wait for me before we went!" Kenny pleaded.

Rachel and Kenny ran out of the fort and towards the strip. They had 2000 caps between them to open the gate, courtesy of Julie Farkas, and Kenny's eyes immediately caught the Gomorrah.

"No no no," Rachel said. "I'll check the Gomorrah and the Lucky 38, you go check the Tops and the Ultra Luxe."

"What?" Kenny asked almost innocently, but Rachel pointed towards the other 2 casinos. "Fine." he said as he made his way towards the other casinos.

At the bar in the Tops, Michael was working on his 2nd bottle of whiskey.

"They should be happy together." Michael said, slurring his words "S'not like I ever had da ballz to say anyting to'er."

Kenny walked in to the Tops, and asked if someone was getting really drunk. The receptionist replied, "Kid, there's always someone getting drunk for no reason, this is New Vegas baby, now why don't go on and check the bar for this cat yourself." He pointed the direction to the bar, and Kenny immediately saw Michael.

He sat on the stool next to Michael.

"Hey buddy, you doing okay?"

"Well looky here, it's mister groomsman, whens the wedding hot stuff?" Michael asked.

"Oh come on man, it's nothing like that at all, when she wanted to get something to eat, she meant the 3 of us. She's totally into you too, dude."

"Yer jus' lyin ta make me feel better."

"No, I'm serious, she said that you never talked to her, and that since you were going to become Overseer, that you were too good for her." Michael looked like he was about to say something, but instead vomit came out of his mouth. "Alright bud, let's go back to the Fort." Kenny picked Michael up in a fireman's carry and put some caps on the counter for the bar tender, and walked out of the casino. He was walking towards the gate when Rachel came out of the Gomorrah, looking a bit sick. "What's the matter Rachel?" Kenny asked.

"Those women in there...thank god I found the Followers." She said, a bit spooked.

Kenny laughed and made his way back towards the fort. Once they got in, Kenny shooed Rachel off to bed and put Michael down on his bed.

"Dis, dis is your bed Kenny." Michael sputtered.

"No man, you rest, i'll talk to you tomorrow." Kenny replied.

The next morning, Michael's head was in incredible pain, and as he sat up, his vision got a bit blurry. He stood up and immediately fell backwards onto the bed. "Holy hell, how much did I drink last night?"

"About 2 bottles of whiskey." Kenny said as he entered the tent.

"Oh, hey, how'd your date go?"

"It wasn't even a date. Rachel said that when I got back to the fort that we should get something to eat. She meant WE, as in the 3 of us."

Michael smacked his forehead, causing him an even bigger headache. "I should've known not to listen to you at face value."

Kenny shrugged and continued, "She was worried about you the whole time, she's totally into you."

"How do you know?"

"Well, she asked how I got into caravaning, and from that point on she just kept on talking about how you never talked to her, and how she wasn't good enough for you, and how you were like an untouchable fruit because you were going to be Overseer. What's her obsession with that anyway?"

"Her father was the Overseer."

Kenny thought to himself, "Hot broad, all alone out in the wasteland with daddy issues? God damn it I'm too nice of a person." Kenny replied. "There you go, she obviously enjoys being around men with power, and nothing is more powerful than taking on all of Caesar's fucking Legion to save her, she idolizes you!"

"Well," Michael continued, "The reason I never talked to her in the Vault was because I was too shy, she was the Overseer's daughter, if that's not Forbidden Fruit then I don't know what is."

Kenny seemed a little infuriated at their bullheadedness "You Vaulties never learned how to express your fucking feelings, did you?"

"You know," Michael said, "The reason why my life felt like it had left the Vault, was because she left the Vault about a month before I did, I left the Vault to come find her."

Kenny's jaw dropped. "If you told her that, that you walked away from being Overseer and the safe life in the Vault just to be with her, she'd melt like Ice in the sun man. I can't believe it took this god forsaken wasteland to bring you two Vaulties together like this. This is some sort of romantic novel story come to life! This is the sort of thing women dream about happening to them."

Michael sat there thinking through what Kenny just said, and immediately laid back down onto the bed. "I am a dumbass." He opened his eyes to look at Kenny, who was trying to withhold from busting out in laughter. " I still don't think I have the nerve to tell her though, I mean, what if she gets pissed at me for walking away from that opportunity or something?"

"You're thinking about it too much man." Kenny said. "Just, sometime when you're alone with her, just say it, just tell her that you're a dumbass and that you couldn't have said this shit back in the vault, and now you're out in the god forsaken wasteland, and basically just say everything you just told me to her. That's what needs to be done, before she finds someone out here who isn't as good a person as I am and sweeps her off her feet."

"Oh shut up, you said she never meant it as a date in the first place."

"That doesn't mean I couldn't have turned it into one." Kenny said bouncing his eyebrows.

"Jesus, how do women find you that attractive?" Michael asked as Rachel walked into the tent.

"Hey guys, hey Michael, how are you feeling?"

"Better, thanks."

"So, I've got us a little mission to go on if you guys are interested. I need to go talk to some NCR troops down by Lake Mead, at Camp Golf. And since my guards got, um, dispatched by the Legion, I thought you two could come with me?" Michael and Kenny looked at each other. "Unless you've got something better to do Michael, I can find someone else."

"No, it's fine, I'm more than willing to help you out Rachel." Michael said.

"Great!" Rachel said excitedly as she left the tent.

Kenny turned and looked into Michael's eyes. "Do you see what I mean? She thinks you're too good for her! And you think just the opposite. She asked if you were too busy, and offered to go out of her way to find someone else, if I were you, I'd be swimming in her sheets already!" Kenny started yelling a bit, and Michael motioned for him to calm down.

"Alright man, just calm down, I'll see if I can build up any nerve tonight, when I was letting her free, and the Legion was trying to kill me, I think that was the greatest moment of my life up to that point."

"Then tonight we make a new best moment." Kenny said as he walked out of the tent with his backpack slung over his shoulder.

Michael gathered his supplies for the mission, and sat with his face buried in his hands. "It's right there, but I just can't grab it." He thought to himself. He sat there for what seemed like 30 minutes before Rachel walked in.

"You ready to get going? We want to be over there before dark."

"Yea, let's get going."

They left the fort and Freeside, and started their trek to Camp Golf. They walked in mostly silence, save for a few geckos and a lone raider who had had a little too much Jet. They were going to the 188 Trading Post to stop for something to eat. When they arrived, Kenny bought some Squirrel Stew and brought it over to the table where Michael and Rachel were sitting.

"So we're pretty much there, we actually double backed a bit too far South, but i'd rather have this food than whatever it is the NCR serves. Lake Mead and Camp Golf aren't much farther up north. How are you guys feeling?" Kenny asked.

"I'm fine." Michael replied, eating a spoonful of the stew.

"Yea, me too, we'll be there a few hours before sunset." Rachel added, picking at her stew.

"Is something wrong?" Michael asked her.

"No, it's just, I still am not used to the food out here, there's not a whole lot chicken or non-brahmin beef." Michael laughed a bit and Rachel blushed. "I've been out here 3 months longer than you and you're chowing down on this stuff, shows how good I am at adapting myself."

Michael started to say something when a gunshot rang out off to the west, and Michael could see some Raiders off in the dry lake bed. "Kenny, we got some Raiders, get out your rifle and go stand in the back of the old Army truck over there on the overpass, you can pick them off easy, I'll stand down the embankment a bit in case any of them get close."

The whole time Michael was telling the plan to Kenny, Rachel stared at Michael, and slowly rested her cheek on her hand, almost in a daze.

"Rachel!" Michael exclaimed.

She snapped out of her daze. "Yea?"

"Stay back here until I tell you otherwise, alright?"

She nodded and pulled out the gun she had borrowed from the Followers.

Kenny ran into the back of the old US Army Pickup Truck and lined up some shots. Michael stood about 30 yards from the truck down the embankment of the overpass the 188 was built on, with his Service Rifle, popping off a few shots, after a few minutes, the Raiders were all either dead or bleeding out.

"Thank You both so much!" The owner of the 188's snack shop said as she ran out and gave Michael and Kenny hugs. "We could have never fended all of those Raiders off, anytime you're passing through, dinner's on us!"

Michael bowed his head to her and motioned for Rachel to pack up so they could head out.

"Is it really that easy for you to get the lay of a battlefield?" Rachel asked as they passed along the ruins of Boulder City.

"Generally," Michael shrugged, "Yea, in the Vault I studied a lot of historical wars and battles, seeing what strategies worked and why, and which strategies sounded good in theory, but were just a little underwhelming. Rule #1 of battle is get the high ground and protect it. Rule #2, If you're not on the High Ground, just run, there's something like an 80% chance that you're not going to gain it from a full frontal assault."

"Wow, it's really that simple?" Rachel asked, at this point, Kenny had backed off a few paces, trying to give them some "alone" time.

"It can be, yea, or it can be as complex as controlling hundreds of ships in a Navy during an assault." Michael changed the subject, "So what exactly are we going there to discuss?"

"Well, the face story is that we're just here to check up on some sort of treaty that the NCR signed with the Followers back in the founding days. What we're really doing is making sure that the NCR isn't using any nuclear technology, to make sure that nothing like the Great War ever happens again. That's why they sent me; my PipBoy," She looked at Michael's wrist, "and yours, have Geiger Counters in them. So if there's any sort of nuclear energy happening here, we will be able to sniff it out, at least if it's greater than the background radiation."

"So this is some serious diplomatic stuff we're dealing with huh? This is a lot more than getting Mr. Anderson's kid to stop playing his drums after 8PM, right?"

Rachel laughed and nodded and Michael put his arm around her shoulders. "A lot of the stuff in the Vault that seemed so urgent would be nothing more than a minor inconvenience out here." Michael said.

"Oh yea, if there was a shortage of hot sauce, there could be riots in the Vault, but out here, I don't think condiments are even a thing." Rachel replied. They laughed, and they could see Lake Mead in the distance, and they could see the smoke coming from the tents outside Camp Golf. They walked up to the tents outside the main building.

"Well, here we are, I have a little schpeal that I need to say in the Officer's tent. While I'm doing that, I need you to walk around the camp and look for radiation, alright? I shouldn't be any more than 10 minutes, so make it quick." Rachel entered the Officer's tent, and Michael had Kenny stand by the tent's door just in case, and he went about the camp with the Geiger Counter receiving 95% power from the PipBoy. He walked over to a shack, and the Geiger Counter started bumping up from 0. Michael tapped the screen and reset the Counter just to make sure, but there was definitely something coming from that shack. Michael looked around before pulling on the door, it was unlocked. When he opened the door. He found a cache of Mini Nukes and Fat Man cannons. Then he suddenly remembered that during the raid on Camp McCarran, the General Moore had called for the Mini Nuke cannons to clear out Raiders before the Legion attacked. Michael closed the shack and went around the camp one more time before returning to the tent. As soon as got back to the tent, Rachel emerged from the tent shaking the hand of the CO. Rachel signaled to Michael and Kenny and they walked East toward the lake.

"So, you get anything?" Rachel asked.

"Well, a little, they had some Fat Man Cannons and ammo for them in a shack, but I think they only use them as a last resort."

"Fat Man Cannons?" Rachel seemed puzzled.

"Basically Nuclear slingshots that fire Mini Nukes. They were used in the raid on Camp McCarran when the Camp was getting overrun by Raiders, but they only used them when it looked like the only way. Is that allowed?" Michael asked.

"Well, yes and no, there's a limit on the amount they can have at any time, but yes, we allowed them to use them back then because the Enclave, who are basically the remnants of the old USA Government, were using them in droves. I think we'd need to inspect their bases and request a formal count. There's a Followers outpost not too far from the Lake where we can stay tonight. Follow me." Rachel led Michael and Kenny south from Camp Golf along the shore of Lake Las Vegas, before leading them into an old train yard. When they walked around the old train cars, an old tower greeted them in the middle of two tracks. "Home sweet home." Rachel said, leading the guys up the stairs. When she opened the door, a horrific smell wafted out from the room and something stood up from the floor. "What the-" Rachel said before screaming. Michael grabbed Rachel and pulled her out the door and ran into the room, and inside was something that looked dead and was glowing a bright green.

"Kenny, what the fuck is this?" Michael asked, not sure what he was seeing.

"That's what we call a Glowing One, we need to lead it outside." Kenny replied, leading Rachel back down the stairs. Michael soon followed. The Glowing One roared from the top of the stairs before rushing down them and a sort of shockwave blew outward from it, knocking down Michael and sending his Geiger Counter into a frenzy. Kenny pulled out his Shotgun and blasted it, but the shot seemed to do nothing as it roared again, sending out another shockwave and running at Kenny, Michael got up and fired some rounds into it as it ran past him. It swiped it's arm backwards, hitting Michael and sending him backwards and back onto the ground. It got into Kenny's face and was met with a shotgun blast that blew clean through it's head. It staggered a bit before swiping at Kenny before dying. Rachel ran over to Michael, who was still on the ground from that swipe from the Glowing One. "Those things are Ghouls that have absorbed too much radiation, even for Ghouls. Normally they roam in pairs, but I think this one just wandered into the tower and got itself stuck."

"Well lucky us then, right?" Michael asked.

"Yea, we should be fine, there's a maze of rail cars here, so we'll be able to hear them if any more try to come back around. They're pretty loud."

Rachel was still sitting where Kenny had lead her, she looked stunned. "I'm going to go out and get some fresh air." Rachel finally said as she left the Outpost. Michael and Kenny walked back up into the tower, and Kenny collapsed onto one of the beds.

"You should probably go out there." He said to Michael.

"She can protect herself." Michael said.

"You really are an idiot." Kenny said. Michael looked at him a bit confused. "She just saw something out of a pre-war horror movie almost make mince meat out of us, and needs to go get some air? This is the perfect time for her big ol' hero to come out and check on her. It's sunset, there's a big beautiful clean lake out there, probably the only lake like this left in the entire world. Go out there."

Michael stood up and left the tower.

"Vaulties." Kenny said out loud.

Michael walked around the rail cars and looked around for Rachel. He thought about what exactly he was going to say to her, when he saw her, sitting alone, looking over Lake Las Vegas, Camp Golf, and Lake Mead. He walked up next to her and sat down.

"You doing okay?" Michael asked her.

"I never meant for that to happen." she said, almost blaming herself for the Glowing One in the tower.

"Is that really what you think? That you sabotaged us with that thing?"

"Well, no, but it was my idea for us to go there, and we got all filled up with radiation and you got hurt for nothing."

"I'm fine, no one got hurt, things happen, you wouldn't believe how many times Kenny and I have been ambushed by Raiders in California for no reason at all, there are blood thirsty things out here, it's part of this life. I'd think that you would know that better than me, you've been out of the Vault longer than I have."

She sniffled a bit, holding back tears. "I know, but I can't stand the thought of anyone getting hurt for no reason, or for me, especially you." she looked up at him. "Or Kenny." she added.

"Things like that happen, it's just how the world is now."

"Why did we leave the vault?" she asked, tears streaming down her eyes. "Why did we come out here, to this hell? There's nothing but death and desolation out here, people who step on each other for no reason, people who don't care about anyone but themselves, and are willing to kill people just because they don't want to wait in line for the Caravan."

"You're out here to help people Rachel, that's an incredibly admirable thing to do. You left your life in the Vault to come out here to help people. What you did today might save hundreds or thousands of lives later on down the road, if Camp Golf ever got invaded by Legion, and they got their hands on those Fat Man Cannons, who knows what would happen? You've helped tons of people out there, just today. That's a lot more admirable than why I came out here."

"Why _did_ you come out here?" Rachel asked. "Why would you willingly torture yourself with this hellhole when you could have lead the Vault? What exactly are you looking for out here?"

Michael's stomach sank, "This is it." He thought to himself "This is the moment when my whole life up to this point is put on the line."

He took a deep breath in. "You. I came out here to find you." he said, incredibly bluntly, then he looked away and sank his head, fearing that she didn't feel the same about him.

Rachel looked shocked and seemed taken aback by his answer, and her head snapped over to him, she reached for his cheek, and pulled his head to face her. Michael opened his eyes and tears were streaming down Rachel's face. "You threw everything away, just to come out for the remote chance to find me? Do you know what the odds were that you'd actually find me?"

Michael calculated something in his head. "I think they were like 100,000 to 1, or something like that." He joked.

She sniffled. "I didn't think anyone would ever feel that way about me, especially not you."

"What do you mean?" Michael asked.

"You were always the favorite of everyone, the Overseer, my own father, loved you more than me. You always seemed so out of reach, like some sort of God." She said.

"That's not true, he wanted to groom me to be Overseer so that way you wouldn't have to deal with the stress of doing it, he loved you more than anything ever. And, believe it or not, I never talked to you personally, because I was too shy, you were way to good for me. When you left, it tore me up inside." He gulped. "I never lied to you about why I left the Vault, my life wasn't in there anymore, because my life is you." tears were forming in Michael's eyes now, and Rachel pulled him into her for a hug.

"You've already done more for me than I can ever do for you, you saved me from the Legion, I would be in New Reno by now, being treated like one of those women from Gomorrah, but you saved me, there's nothing I could ever do to make it up, I..." Michael put his finger to her lips.

"You just need to be you, that's all I will ever ask of you." Michael pulled his finger away and brought his face closer to hers and she met it with a deep kiss. They pulled away from each other, and the sun was reflecting off of Rachel's tears on her face. Michael put his arm around Rachel and they sat and watched the sunset.

"You know," Rachel said. "Even though we're out here in the wreckage of the world, there's no place I'd rather be right now." She snuggled closer to Michael. "For over a year, I've felt so alone, but now I feel right at home." She locked her fingers in his and they sat until the sun went down.


End file.
